: Maoist rebel groups have recently taken a decision to set up their own units in the states of the North East region, particularly Assam and efforts are already on to establish strong foothold in the region by supporting the struggles of the downtrodden sections of the society. The recent arrest of three youths from Assam in a camp of the Maoist rebels in a jungle area bordering Orissa and Jharkhand exposed the fact that an Upper Assam Committee of the Maoists is already active in Assam.Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told The Assam Tribune that earlier the Maoists had decided to support the “nationality struggles” in North East and Jammu and Kashmir instead of setting up their own units in those areas and they also went into tactical understanding with some such militant groups. The Maoists signed a memorandum of understanding with the RPF of Manipur about a couple of years back for tactical understanding while, Maoists links with the NSCN (I-M) was also confirmed. Senior Maoist leader Kishenji had also extended support to the ULFA in an interview to a Maoist mouthpiece.But after a number of militant outfits of North East including Assam coming forward to hold talks with Centre, the Maoist have decided to set up their own networks in the region and formation of the upper Assam committee is a step in that direction. One of those arrested recently has been identified as Aditya Bora of Naharkatia area of Assam and he is a member of the upper Assam committee of the Maoist group. The other two have been identified as Singh Raj Orang and Ashik Sabar, both of Naharkatia area. During questioning by security forces, Aditya said that they went to the Maoist camp to meet senior leader Kishenji, but the security forces have doubts over his claim. Sources said that Kishenji normally does not meet lower level cadres and there are doubts on whether the youths from Assam really came to meet him, sources pointed out.Sources said that Aditya, a graduate, was earlier arrested by Assam Police for extending support to members of the ULFA, but at that time, he was not a member of the outfit. During questioning, Aditya claimed that the upper Assam committee of the Maoists started an effort to organize the downtrodden sections of the society including the labourers of a few tea gardens. He claimed that he knew a number of political leaders of the state, but he could not substantiate his claim, sources said.Sources pointed out that the Maoists always start their movement in a systematic way and the armed struggle comes at a much later stage. The Maoists first try to establish their network by organizing the downtrodden sections of society and armed struggle is the last stage of their movement. As existence of an upper Assam committee of the Maoists has been established, the police and security forces will have to keep a very close watch on the situation to prevent the rebels from establishing strong network in Assam and other parts of North East, sources pointed out.